Air pollution News

The Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Spain published results from their new study Tuesday and they are disturbing. They found that the brains of kids who go to school in heavy-traffic areas are being damaged.

The world we live in is changing every day, and not all these changes are for the better. Decisions are being made that result in actions which change the way people interact with the planet, and the thing is that not everyone has a say in these changes.

Sydney -
Forget the hype, check out the fact. The patterns of CO2 circulation in the atmosphere, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, are pretty repulsive looking things. China’s notorious smog is clearly visible, and the United States isn’t much better.

Beijing -
Government authorities in Beijing, China, deeply concerned over high pollution levels issued a new law that goes into affect May 1. The law targets outdoor grilling, and with the approach of summer, the impact of the law is sure to create dissention.

In the first study of its kind, researchers have compared pollution rates from 1850 through 2000, and have discovered that man-made pollutants from Asian countries are impacting weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere.

Air pollution in China has become so bad that it has fueled a face-mask cottage-industry in the country. While most of the masks are no better than wearing a bandana over one's face, people are spending millions of dollars for this needed protection.

Paris -
Air pollution levels in Paris, France has been 80 percent higher than in London or Berlin over the past week, prompting the city to offer free public transportation, as well as require drivers to reduce their speed.

Beijing -
In Beijing, the air is so thick with toxic smog that officials are warning citizens to wear masks when outdoors, or stay inside. With air-quality levels rising far above what is considered safe, one scientist compared the foul air to a "nuclear winter."

Beijing -
Imagine the Fourth of July without the fireworks display on Washington's Mall, or New Years on Times Square without the ball dropping. In China, where fireworks were invented, the Lunar New Year on Friday may be celebrated without them.

Beijing -
Last week, Beijing's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau at a press conference, addressed the dirty dish-water pollution covering the city. They blamed the toxic miasma on a number of problems, the biggest being coal-fired industries, among others.

Sydney -
A new study has found that an estimated 2.1 million deaths per year are caused by fine particulate matter. These materials are released into the atmosphere as a direct result of air pollution.

Santiago -
Seven Chilean cities, with a total population of close to seven million people, have accumulated in the first semester of 2013 more than 37 days of dangerous levels of air quality exceeding the daily maximum norm of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

Exposure to air pollution while pregnant may increase woman's risk that her unborn child eventually develops autism. Pollutants like diesel particulates, lead, manganese, mercury, and methylene chloride has been shown to affect a developing baby's brain.

Beijing -
The runaway economic success story of the past decade, China has earned plaudits from economies across the globe, for its attempts at free market trading, but also for its drive to become an environmental trendsetter by embracing clean technologies.

As austerity hit Greek households are forced to turn to wood burning indoors for heat, yet more health warnings have been issued. The latest warnings focus on the risks of breathing in the chemical particles contained in smoke produced from wood.

A recent Fox News article makes the stunning claim that scientific research shows that pollution is good for the environment. The article titled "Answer to speedy tree growth lies in air pollution" seeks to justify pollution.

Urban air pollution is set to become the top environmental cause of mortality worldwide by 2050, says a new report by France's Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The worst countries affected will be China and India.

London -
A U.K. environmental watchdog is claiming that the government is putting the lives of "tens of thousands" at risk by watering down European Union air quality standards instead of tackling the problem directly.